NBC plans to kick off Super Bowl LVI coverage at 6:00pm ET Sunday with an "opening vignette featuring Halle Berry and a bevy of stars and athletes," as the event marks the first time the Super Bowl has been played in L.A. in "nearly three decades," according to Brian Steinberg of VARIETY. The vignette will offer a "tribute to football and movies," and showcase "many top movies involving the sport." In addition to Berry, the feature will include "appearances by Kevin Hart and Carrie Underwood, along with football stars like Marcus Allen, James Harrison, Ronnie Lott, Peyton Manning, Joe Namath and Mike Singletary." NBC shot the opening over "two days at Universal Studios Hollywood," with "additional scenes shot in Nashville and Denver" (VARIETY.com, 2/9).
President Biden will sit down for an exclusive interview as part of NBC's Super Bowl pregame coverageGETTY IMAGES
PRESIDENTIAL INTERVIEW: THE HILL's Dominick Mastrangelo noted President Biden will sit down with NBC News anchor Lester Holt for an "exclusive interview as part of the network's pregame coverage." The interview "will be prerecorded." It has in recent years become "regular practice for the president to sit for an interview with the network broadcasting the Super Bowl." Biden sat with CBS News's Norah O'Donnell last year, and former President Trump was interviewed by Fox News's Sean Hannity the year before (THEHILL.com, 2/9).
ADDRESSING FLORES LAWSUIT: On Long Island, Neil Best notes NBC "plans to address and discuss" Brian Flores’ lawsuit against the NFL during its pregame show on Sunday. However, game producer Fred Gaudelli said that it "likely would not come up during the game itself unless there is a blowout." Gaudelli said, "(Pregame) is the primary place it’s going to happen and probably the only place it’s going to happen on Super Bowl Sunday" (NEWSDAY, 2/10).
PEACOCK PREMIUM ACCESS: VARIETY's Todd Spangler noted the game "will be available to subscribers of Peacock Premium." NBCU recently revealed that Peacock had 9.0 million paying customers at the end of '21, the "first time it broke out that metric." The media company is "offering access to the Super Bowl, as well as the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, only on its Peacock Premium tiers." The hope is that cord-cutters will "sign up for Peacock to catch the Rams-Bengals in the Super Bowl -- and stay for the thousands of hours of TV shows and movies on the service." Super Bowl LVI also will be "livestreamed on the NBC Sports app and at NBCSports.com," although that will "require viewers to sign in using existing pay-TV credentials" (VARIETY.com, 2/10).
AL Michaels, who will call the game for NBC in what may be his last with the network, joined The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast this week.
